Paper Wings
by KidxMaka4eva
Summary: Life is hard for Maka. Her life at home is tough enough but as she has to face the fear of going to school - everything gets worse. As Kid watches her from afar, is it possible that both him and his anger issues can make everything right again? Or is violence the wrong way to fix the severely broken? Voted "tragically beautiful. Just a papers fold from happiness," by Widbook. KxM
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

~ Maka ~

Everyone has those days when they're lost. When they're afraid of being neglected for far too long, and have eventually just fallen into the pit of nothingness and became - forgotten. Everyone is afraid.

And I for one - am _one._

The bus bolted backwards and forwards, causing me to sway restlessly from side to side as I folded up my ticket. Folding it again and again, half - and then once more until the writing was completely invisible.

"Next stop - Death City."

The drivers voice seemed to drag on forever, like it was one million miles away and its echo was still trying to reach me.

But I was long gone. Little Miss Maka Albarn wasn't there anymore, because she was lost. She was lost in the world of feeling forgotten - she knew it would be best if she never returned. But who would miss her?

The guy in front of me snored and roared against the engine of the vehicle. Having rage wars with the bus, trying to win for being the loudest. And the guy was winning - by miles.

Staring at him disgusted me. His dark blue shirt just being able to swamp over the whole of his rounded stomach, stained with sweat and other disgusting and horrific looking things.

I swore I could smell his wretched breath from across the aisle - it sickened me, greatly.

_Am I even alive? Everyone and everything around me could be created by my own mind. I don't know._

The bus slowly pulled up to the bus stop, inching closer with every second Mr. Fatty-Blue-Shirt's snoring got louder. I felt like my brain was going to implode, so I placed my feet against the ground, threw my folded up ticket onto the seat behind me and walked the aisle.

~ Death the Kid ~

I watched the bus grow closer. The four wheels that were pressurised against the concrete road parking the vehicle perfectly against the side of the pavement. Right in front of me.

As soon as the doors swung open, a long blonde haired girl barged past me to grasp hold of the open air, breathing in the outside as soon as she reached it. Like for the whole of her journey, something was suffocating her.

She raced to pull up her hood on her jacket and speedily walked off down the road, leading towards the centre of town. Nothing else mattered to her - except for freedom.

I reached my hand to the rail and pulled myself up the step and on the bus, walking to the driver to pay for my ticket before walking the aisle in search of a seat.

Opposite a big man swamped in a filthy dark blue shirt, an open space sat and just waited for me to run to it. Freeing it from the space of feeling so empty.

But as soon as I sat down and grew face to face with the big stomached man - I realised I should have just stayed up front and waited for my stop.

His snoring was unbearable. So completely suffocating.

Suddenly - I felt a prickling sensation against my right thigh, digging up into my skin like it was trying to pierce at my flesh through my jeans. Rip-rip-ripping me apart from the outside.

_What the hell?_

I reached beneath my thigh, brushing the tips of my fingers against a soft but sharp edged object that had been forcefully squashed beneath my legs as I carelessly took my seat.

A little paper crane is what rested lifelessly inside my palm, the edges of its paper wings crumbled and ripped from my ignorance of not being careful. I had murdered its beauty.

It hung like a broken branch swaying restlessly in the wind between my fingers. Longing to crash towards the ground, in need of giving into defying gravity - I had forced it into nothing.

_I'm so sorry._

~ Maka ~

"Her." They were all around me. "That's the girl."

My hood covered my eyes, shielding my sight from the girls and boys that pressed closer to me with every breath they took, stealing away what felt like my last ever supply of oxygen.

_Not now, please._

They snickered and whispered to one another, glancing in my direction before quickly turning back to laugh once again. Mocking me and not caring whether I saw or not. I was no one to them after all, just prey that they hunted and continuously tore apart from the inside.

"She cuts herself."

_No, I don't._

"She's a proper emo."

_No, I'm not._

"No one likes her."

_No - they don't._

I never wanted someone else there. Never did I want someone to hold my hand and guide me away from the anger and tears that threw itself around inside me.

I was perfectly fine on my own, if I were to get close to someone - they would only break me, rip me like paper.

I'd watch them around me. They'd smile, share gossip and so called secrets like they were nothing but works of slipping the tongue and passing the lips on someone's arrogant and careless face. They were all monsters.

"Why is she just standing there?" The brown haired one stared directly at me as she took a step closer. "Doesn't she want to fight against us?"

I held my own breath. "I have no reason to."

She seemed somewhat - startled. "Really? Even when we spread those lies."

"I really don't care." My head shook itself slowly, like it had a mind of its own. "Do whatever the hell you want."

By the end of the day; the whole school believed the lies. The lies - about me.

~ Death the Kid ~

"Surely it would have hurt her?" Soul shrugged his shoulders. "What was she thinking?"

I couldn't help but laugh at him. "You really believe that crap?"

"You don't?"

The sun was bleeding through the sky, casting waves of sunshine to beam against my pale skin and heat little of my cheeks as I tipped back my head to feel the cold thin breeze. It was like freedom when it brushed past my face, freeing me from the wave of suffocation.

He scrunched up his spiky blonde hair. "Well, whatever. I don't know her."

I raised a dark eyebrow. "Why, does it matter if you don't know her?"

"Then its not my problem." He too, tilted his head back to the sky. "I don't have to get involved."

He was right, but I couldn't help but feel partly angry at him for acting like there was hardly anything wrong with the girl. It was true - we didn't know her, but what if something happened to her because of our carelessness. I didn't want to sit back and watch that happen.

His red eyes were suddenly on me. "Does it matter to you?"

My lower lip trembled. "No, it doesn't."

But what I didn't know then. Later that week - it would.

Sweat rolled down my forehead, damping my hairline before streaking across my face. It was the sun that caused the salty water, the sun let it drain away all dryness from my face, leaving nothing but two soaked cheeks.

"Anyway, let's go." I pushed myself to stand. "It's baking out here."

We had bunked the first two lessons. History and then Maths, although due to make it back for Art. A lesson that I actually didn't despise, just one of the few.

Soul slung his bag over his shoulder. "Believe what ya' want bro." He swept the sweat away from is face. "Liz's a babe, I'll believe anything she tells me."

I frowned, trying not to release most of my pent up anger against him. Holding my shaking fists beside me, trying my hardest to lock away my rage.

I wasn't very good at it, but I was okay. It was hard to control when I felt angry. So very angry.

~ Maka ~

I sat patiently on a bench at the bus stop. The summer heat burning down on me from the sky even though I held my pale skin wrapped up tightly in my black hoody.

A group of girls from my school walked on the other side of the road. Walking past me while pointing fingers and throwing their heads back in laughter. Mocking my appearance and everything they thought they knew about me.

I pulled my knees up to my chest, placing my converse against the edge of the bench as I tilted my head back to face the glimmering sun. Watching the clouds float around it like the followers of it's existence.

It was like they looked down on me. Like they too were laughing at everything I existed for, laughing at everything I was and everything I wasn't. And as I felt the tickle of the wind caress the side of my face - I felt free.

The bus turned the corner towards the bus stop. Its wheels turning vigorously against the concrete as it raced the clouds to where I was sitting.

I just hoped that it wouldn't mock me too.

The doors breathed open as it stopped in front of me. The sound of the radio tickling my ear drums as I stood from the bench. The sound of the broadcasters voice growing louder as I stepped on.

I purchased my ticket, stuffing it deeply in my hoody pocket as I walked the aisle in search of my previous seat, delighted to see that it was empty as well as the seat opposite it.

My bag thudded as it hit the chair, but I didn't pay attention to whether or not if people noticed, I just sat down beside it, lifting my legs up and crossing them on the seat.

A voice called from outside, "wait!"

A boy with scruffy black hair ran towards the doors of the bus, quickly managing to step inside before the doors exhaled behind him.

"Close," the driver smiled towards him. "Ticket?"

The boy nodded, "yes please."

~ Death the Kid ~

I sat down quickly, feeling the jolt of the bus shake the ground beneath my feet as I did so. Feeling the wash of relief come over me as I placed my head in my sweaty palms.

Slowly I removed my bag from my shoulder and placed it beside me, letting it tumble on it's side as the bus shook slightly from left to right.

The girl opposite me sat still. Her hands clasped together in her lap as if she were holding something so utterly fragile. Like if the slightest amount of air were to brush past it's surface - it would shatter into nothing but dusty remains.

Her hood covered her eyes, so I was unable to see her face. But as she sat there in silence, I couldn't help but feel the urge to want to comfort her.

Blonde strands of hair escaped from her hood, falling from behind her ears and staining her pale cheeks with thin blonde lines.

It were as if it were a symbol for her destroyed purity, and I couldn't help but want to try and fix that. I just wanted to reach across the aisle and offer my hand of support.

Then suddenly - she sniffed. Causing the release of two tears to drip from her shielded eyes and stain the skin of her clasped hands.

Her fingers quivered slightly. As if she desired to drop her grip on whatever it was she were holding so close to her. But as the bus stammered from side to side - her hands showed no further signs of hesitation. She remained stern as stone.

"Excuse me...?" I leaned closer to her. "Are you alright?"

She gasped, abruptly raising her head and revealing two shimmering emerald eyes, that were easily the two most beautiful things I had ever seen for the whole of my existence.

Another tear quickly bled down the left side of her face, sliding across her skin as if it desired to be separated from her suffocating flesh. Screaming for the moment in which it would drip to it's fatal extinction.

The bus jolted to a stop and as fast as she could, she gripped hold of the bag beside her and sprinted down the aisle.

"Wait!" I exclaimed.

I jumped up after her, watching her run out the double doors and proceed to run up the path, when the doors were automatically instructed to close behind her.

I couldn't catch her.

Just before the bus pulled away from the pavement once again, I sat back down. Trying my hardest to avoid the glances given in my direction.

The space opposite sat painfully empty. Empty with the exception of one little thing.

I leant across the aisle once more, reaching towards the little folded piece of paper that rested lifelessly on the deserted seat.

And there, sitting in the palm of my palm, sat another paper crane.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

~ Maka ~

Within the corner of my room, the darkness began to close in. Every shadow, twisting and turning as they reached out to get me. As they reached out to pull me into the pit of consumption.

My fingers gripped at the hairs on my scalp, tugging and pulling as they clung onto my flesh like a moth to a flame. But no matter how hard I pulled, I couldn't pluck them from my body.

I was terrified. Beyond, terrified.

My wrists had been clawed at by the air, as well as my nails. The world around me wasn't the only thing that was trying to consume me.

I was too...

"Maka!" His angry fists hammered themselves on my bedroom door. "Open this door right now!"

The sound of his slurred and suffocating words forced me to tremble within the grasp of my own destructive hands.

Once again his fists thundered. "I swear to god I'll knock it down, Maka!"

"One, two, three, four." I breathed deep. "One, two, three, four."

Every number that brushed past my lips soothed my world into silence. Every time I counted I was able to gain control with everything that existed with inside of me.

"Maka!"

"One, two," the night was growing darker, "three, four."

The thunder echoed all around me.

"Open up!"

"One, two, three, four."

And the rain was falling from my eyes.

~ Death the Kid ~

The sky was growing dark. The sun was slowly being replaced by the existence of the moon and the stars were bursting to life from every corner of the sky.

I sat in my favourite tree. The slanted one in the corner of the park, my favourite and the easiest to climb since I was only six years old. As the years had gone on, it was a lot easier to get higher in the tree, so right then I sat near the top.

The treetops above me swayed delicately in the breeze. Leaves snapping from their branches, only to float gracefully towards the deserted ground and lay there lifelessly until the wind picked up once more.

I couldn't help but sit there, and picture her eyes. Those beautiful tear stained emerald eyes that stared at me with such shock and confusion but yet fear at the same time.

Her eyes were all I could think about.

The wind tugged at my hair for the seconds I remained high up in that tree. My hair weaved itself across my face, staining my skin with strands that cracked cross my flesh.

I tipped my head back to face the night. "Who are you...?"

~ Maka ~

The blood that stained my mouth stuck my lips together, forcing a great deal of agonising pain to strike at my face once I ripped them apart, only managing to create a new trail of blood to stream down my chin.

My body ached with cuts and bruises. Everything burning and throbbing as I struggled to push myself to my feet, my legs threatening to snap and crumble as I did so.

As I stood fully, I could feel the faint hammering of fists against my skull - the remembrance of what happened the night before.

And as it all came crashing back - I came crashing down.

Eager to grasp a hold of something, I gripped hold of the bookshelf opposite, just before my legs gave in.

That's when the shelf came tumbling down on top of me.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

~ Death the Kid ~

The next few days that went past, the green eyed girl was no where to be seen. The seat opposite me on the bus remained empty for the rest of the week.

So as I sat there staring at the empty space across the aisle, I couldn't help but wonder that maybe her disappearance had something to do with me.

The bus jolted as it reached the pavement, the doors opening slowly as they signalled my exit to leave. So without wasting another second, I quickly hopped up from the seat and walked the aisle towards the doors.

_Green Day _blared through my earphones as I stepped off the bus, the sound of the drums syncing in with the hammer of my heartbeat as I began my walk towards the school.

I gripped on tight to the strap of my bag, feeling the tips of my fingers pierce at the fabric as I walked through the gates of the DWMA.

As soon as I walked through, I heard the sounds of murmuring students and caught the sight of a few of them glancing at me as I walked promptly towards the building.

I suddenly felt exposed as I tried to adjust the strap higher on my shoulder. But as soon as I stepped through the main double doors, I knew for a fact that people were staring at me.

"Why would he talk to _her_?" The sound of their voices scratched at my eardrums.

"She's completely pathetic," they knew I could hear them. "And you know, he's not."

The worst thing was, I didn't know what they were talking about. I knew they were talking about me - they were staring at me. I just couldn't work out what it was they were actually saying about me, and it angered me - so much.

"If he carries on like that, it'll ruin his reputation."

I snapped, "shut up."

The girls turned to face me abruptly, their eyes wide and jaws dropped as they saw the angered expression I held upon my face.

"I don't know what the hell it is you two are talking about," I carried on walking. "But shut it."

I didn't bother to turn back around to face either of them_**. **_I just continued my walk through the crowded corridor, hoping that the green eyed girl would show at some point due in the day.

I just had to see her again.

~ Maka ~

"Hey, how you doing?" The nurse walked into the room with a bright and happy smile. "Sleep okay?"

I stared coldly at her. Watching that smile of hers fade from her pale freckled face.

She looked away from me. "How's the bruising?"

"Hurts like a bitch," I sighed. "But what can you do?"

She turned back to face me with a smile. "Actually we ca-"

"It was a rhetorical question."

I placed my head back on the pillow behind me. Feeling the throbbing pain of a headache kick in as my eyes caught sight of the lights above me. Each one of them wanting to burn up my vision which seemed to be one of the only things I had left.

It hurt. Everything - hurt.

"Listen..." She sat down on the edge of the bed. "Is there anyone you want us to call?"

"No."

She stroked her fingers through her bright ginger bob. "We could call your dad?"

"No!" I yelled, "I didn't say yes when you first asked, I'm not going to change my mind!"

She stared down at me with her green eyes. They shun with sympathy and concern at the same time, which forced me to feel bad due to the fact all I had done was shout at her.

"I'm sorry..." I closed my eyes. "I just want to go home, I promise I'm fine."

She stared at me for a moment, her eyes scanning mine for what seemed to be some sign of approval for what it was I had requested, and after a while of looking, she finally nodded her head.

"I'll go get the paperwork," she pushed herself to a stand. "But if you feel any signs of nausea or concussion, I want you to come back."

I nodded, "okay."

As the door shut behind her, some form of weight had risen from off my chest, forcing me to purposely release a breath that felt as if I had been holding it for as long as I could remember.

And it felt so good.

~ Death the Kid ~

Soul stood beside me as I placed books inside my locker. He stared at me with some kind of stare that I had never encountered from him before, so when I saw him from the corner of my eye, I couldn't help but feel slightly worried.

I sighed, "what you want, Soul?"

He raised his eyebrows. "What's wrong with you, dude?"

I closed my locker, already beginning to feel the return of my anger. "What?"

"Maka Albarn!"

At the sound of his voice, it seemed the whole corridor stopped what it was they were doing to eavesdrop on our conversation.

"Maka Albarn...?" I asked, "what about her?"

He folded his arms across his chest. "You were talking to her the other day."

I stepped to the side to face him, watching as he slowly backed away from me as he saw me get closer. Watching my every move as carefully as he could, as if I were to lash out at any moment.

"I spoke to Maka Albarn?" I asked.

He nodded, "yeah."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't really get the problem."

His eyes widened. "You don't?"

"No," I said quickly. "I really don't."

He suddenly came over nervous - scared even, as he caught a glimpse of the hesitation in my hands to turn them into fists.

"You know..." he stammered. "She's a freak."

I chuckled, "your opinion."

"The whole schools opinion."

Silence lingered throughout the whole corridor, growing louder within the seconds that everyone remained staring towards the both of us in complete and utter fascination.

"The whole school huh?" I shook my head slowly.

The blonde haired boy in front of me nodded slowly, his eyes watching me as if he sympathised with the creature that controlled every ounce of anger that proceeded to exist inside me.

But I couldn't hold it anymore.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

I slammed my fist against the locker doors. Shaking the whole row of lockers and startling every student that stood lifelessly within the school corridor - watching the boy with anger issues with utter fear across their faces.

My fist was only inches away from coming into contact with his chest. If I was just a fraction closer to him, my fist could've cracked at his ribs and shattered his insides.

But I had somewhat a little amount of control.

"Kid," he hesitated. "Calm down."

I gritted my teeth, in need to find away to gain more control. But my fists shook rapidly from where they were, causing a vigorous amount of tapping against my leg as well as on the now dented locker.

Then suddenly - the murmuring students picked up once again. This time there topic of discussion based on something more strangely interesting.

"That's her," they snickered. "Looks like someone gave it to her."

My heart stumbled in my chest, causing everything inside me to freeze for a moment or two as the corridor around me gradually grew louder by the lingering second.

I stepped to the side, leaning towards my right to look towards the now pushed open double doors. Watching as the hooded figure proceeded to carry herself down the corridor.

Blood stained her rosy lips, displaying a bright amount of colour on her skin that was so delicately pale. As well as the bruise that marked itself upon her left cheekbone, her beautiful face aching with the pressure of everyone staring at her.

"She must've got her ass kicked!" Liz snickered from the other side of the corridor.

Soul rolled his eyes. "Give it a rest Liz..."

I held my gaze on her fragile body, as if I had the power to catch her at any moment if she were to just suddenly collapse. But with every step she took past the crowds of people, I knew she was stronger than she looked.

Her eyes met mine. Her green bloodshot eyes fixating themselves with my own as she continued down the corridor. Watching me intensely with eyes that screamed with despair as she walked past.

And it was just like that - before they were gone again. Before they had vanished from my gaze, and it hurt me as I thought that I might not ever be able to see them again.

"What's your obsession with her?" Liz scoffed. "She's nothing special, that's for sure."

Soul snapped, "Liz I said shut up!"

The brown haired girl dropped her hip, placing her right hand on her waist as she stared towards him dumbfounded. A few curls of hair slipping from behind her shoulders as she slowly shook her head.

The bell rang above us, startling everyone to move quickly to their classrooms. But I however, stood exactly where I was. There was something inside me that prevented me from moving and I just let it take control of everything inside me.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

~ Maka ~

My body trembled with excruciation as I walked through the deserted corridor. Feeling the weight of my body try to crush my knees to the ground with every step I took. But no matter what, I refused to show myself any signs of weakness.

The boy with the golden eyes - I remembered him from the bus. I remembered that he was the one who asked me if I was okay when I broke down. And I remembered how much it had scared me.

I breathed deeply, feeling my broken lungs inside me inflate as I titled back my head. Watching as the lights above me disappeared from my gaze as I continued my walk down the corridor.

My converse squeaked at the laminate flooring as I got to the end. Turning to look from both left and right to decide where it was I wanted to continue my walk.

I stood there for a moment, feeling my head throb once more with the slight hammering of fists, causing me to place my palm against my forehead, as if I were able to catch the pain with the tips of my fingers.

The pain forced my eyes to water. Causing every sight around to blur into a mist of nothingness. And once I had realised that, I was able to notice how much me and my surroundings had in common. We were both nothing.

My nails scratched at the skin against my head. Feeling a whole new kind of pain take over me as I scratched away my flesh, leaving behind a jagged line of blood to just run down towards my nose.

And as I felt the heat of my blood stain my face once again, every kick, scratch and punch that was marked upon my body only a few days before - came back in a heap of excruciating pain.

Then the water from my eyes began the suffocating journey of bleeding down my cut up face. Flowing quickly in and out of every wound that had bound itself against my cheeks, more pain scratching at my entire body.

"Hey there..." The voice came from behind me. "What you doing gorgeous?"

Quickly, I dried my eyes. "Nothing that concerns you."

I quickly span on my heel, realising that although there was only one voice - two boys stood behind me. The both of them belonging to the football team.

They held their smirks proud upon their faces, their eyes wide with the desire to cause trouble as they locked their gaze, with my own.

"What do you want?" I asked, feeling my body tremble ever so slightly.

They both towered over me completely. Realising my insecurity of being much smaller than the both of them, they decided to use it to their advantage and proceed closer to my breaking body.

They dodged my question. "How you get those bruises?"

"I..." I stammered. "I fell."

"Bullshit," they laughed.

They continued to walk towards me, forcing me to back up closer to the wall that I so badly desired to weep against. But with every step they took, I continued to feel more exposed.

I began to feel afraid. "What do you want?"

The blue haired boy snickered. "It's more a question of _who _we want."

My lifeless heart thumped hard inside my squeezing chest. Threatening to snap at my ribcage and tear apart my lungs in which kept me breathing in that terrifying moment.

I didn't want them to touch me. As my back came into contact with the wall I felt the tremble of chills crawl up and back down my spine, which was when they reached out towards me.

The urge to back away consumed me, but as I tried to surpass the wall they had me up against, all I was able to do was struggle beneath their paining grasp, and try my hardest to escape their desirable possession.

"She's a fighter!" He one laughed. "Just my kind of girl."

I tried to rip my wrist out from their hold. "If you don't let go right now, I'll scream for help."

The other stepped closer. "Oh yeah? And who would listen to the likes of you?"

It hurt so bad - the fact that he was right. The fact that if I screamed, no one would come running to my rescue. I could scream and cry as much as I wanted, but I'd be left stranded in the grasp of these _monsters. _

But it didn't mean that I wasn't going to try.

I breathed in deeply. "Help!"

The sound of my shrieking voice startled them a great deal as they hesitated in front of me. Feeling their hands shake vigorously as they pushed and pulled at my body in order to make me stop.

"Someone help me!"

"Shut up!"

Their fist crushed into the despair of my flesh. Cracking at my ribs that rest painfully within the insides of my body, each one wanting to snap and smash into the depths of my stomach with every second I remained surrounded.

My suffocating breath gasped itself through my lips, as I felt the pain rein up inside me. Throbbing with every other ounce of pain I had experienced within the last few days, all coming together as if they had the power to devour me into a pit of nothing but despair.

I lifted my head. "Get off me."

They blue haired boy stood there stern. His eyes staring down at my vulnerable body with a stare that scared me deep down, but with every last bit of strength that I possessed inside me, I dared not to show any sign of weakness against his gaze.

"Did you not hear me?" I gritted my teeth. "I said get off me!"

Then without thinking, my right arm escaped his pinching grasp, and my palm was struck at the left side of his face, my nails scratching away the skin that shielded his pathetic monstrous face in the process.

Blood rose quickly. Red sticky liquid oozing from his fresh wounds and staining his stubble covered cheeks. His eyes widening in terror as it bled down his face and trailed towards the edge of his clenched jaw. A hideous amount of anger in his eyes as they locked themselves with mine.

He ordered, "grab her."

~ Death the Kid ~

I sat on a bench outside the building, overlooking the field as the sun beamed down upon my tiresome body. Heating up the skin on my face and forcing sweat to eagerly drip from my hairline.

My feet tapped against the ground as I desired for the time to pass by faster. Tilting back my head as if breathing in deeply would make my surroundings speed up, and after several attempts, it angered me when I realised it was never going to work.

I checked the time on my phone, watching as the time in the top right corner flashed _09:15. _Frustration washing over me when I realised that I still had fifteen minutes left, before the bell would save me from the suffocating outside world.

"Get over there!"

The slam of an opening door and then a thud echoed from behind me, causing me to abruptly turn in the sounds direction.

The green eyed girl laid against the dirty covered ground clutching hold of her stomach in excruciating pain.

"Little shit!"

Ox and Black*star crowded round her helpless body as she struggled to push herself to a stand. But as she got to her knees Ox pushed her back down again, causing her to shriek as she hit the solid ground.

"You think you can hit me?" Black*star asked. "You think I'm gonna let you get away with that?"

She screamed as his foot collided with her arm. Dirt and blood staining her hoody as she rolled around whilst trying to escape the pain he brought to her delicately breaking body.

I threw myself from the bench, feeling the rise of my uncontrollable anger burning within my fists as I stormed towards them.

As I grew closer I saw the blood that stained her face, and the tears that stained her eyes. The both in which bound themselves against her already spoilt purity - only angering everything that sat restlessly inside my veins.

I grabbed a hold of the blue haired boy. "Back off Black*star!"

As I threw him aside, I watched him stumble to the ground, landing against his knees in the dirt.

By now Ox had noticed my presence, which caused him to step back from the situation.

"Piss of Kid," Black*star spat. "This doesn't involve you."

I raised my eyebrows. "You think I give a shit?"

The green eyed girl winced up at me, struggling with the question as to why it was I was defending her.

Black*star pushed himself up. "You will do."

"Is that a threat?" I stepped closer, "it better not be."

He chuckled. "What, you think I'm scared of you?"

I could feel my anger growing closer towards him. "I know you're scared of me."

"And what makes you think that?" He stepped closer, "because you have anger problems?"

She looked up at me again, but with a difference kind of expression. One that asked for help, an expression that was struggling to find the will to exist.

"I'm warning you Black*star." I hissed through my teeth. "Leave her alone."

He smirked. "Why?"

"Because she doesn't deserve this!"

She coughed against the ground. The slight dribble of blood passing through her lips as she closed her eyes in exhaustion. Breathing slowly as if the pressure of the situation was slowly killing her.

"Sure she doesn't." He crouched down towards her helpless body. "But she's still a pathetic, little, nothing."

And the last thing I remember I was charging towards him.

Before everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

~ Maka ~

He sat opposite me on the bus. His bloodshot golden eyes looking over to me every few minutes as if the pressure of the bus could crush me into nothing, because I was that fragile.

His bruised and bleeding knuckles quivered in his lap as he folded and extended his fingers over and over again. As if the pain were secretly destroying him but he tried his hardest to maintain it as something that no longer existed.

Blood stained my face and hoody. The stench of it seeping through my nostrils as if to make me hungry for the sweet revenge of spilling _Black*star's._

But the boy on the opposite side of the aisle had already gotten there before I did.

He had left the blue haired boy beaten on the ground before helping me to my feet and taking me to the bus stop. I hadn't protested his help, and had yet to figure out why something inside me didn't try to push him away.

But as I watched him struggle to cover up his pain on the bus ride home, something inside me knew how different but similar we actually were. And I felt enlightened to find out what it was.

He caught me looking at him.

~ Death the Kid ~

I caught her looking at me.

Her startled tear stained eyes quickly averting themselves away from me as I locked my gaze on her. Her whole head eventually turning to face away from me, as if she desired my existence to be nothing more than a memory to her.

But I was wrong.

"Thank you," she whispered.

I saw a slight glimpse of her emerald green eyes looking at me from beneath her hoody. The sunlight beaming through the windows to create a fragile shine against the surface of her iris. The glimmer reflecting back to the sky, as if she was the living proof that there was a greater existence than both the sun and the moon together.

And her name was Maka Albarn.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

~ Death the Kid ~

The wind caressed itself against my cheek as I sat in my tree. My hair trying to be the death of me as it attempted to pull me backwards from the branch.

My knuckles pinched with pain as I clenched it and then unclenched my hand repeatedly. Feeling my fists desire to let go as I watched the wounds against my fingers rip open once again.

And with every painful second that passed me by, all I could think of was her face as she watched me defend her breaking body. The way she watched me with her eyes of tears and never ending suffocation, it was all I could think about.

My earphones threatened to pluck themselves from my ears as the wind grew stronger. Threatening to leave me stranded in silence whilst I sat there, twiddling with my bruising hands.

She was somewhere out there, most probably alone, probably contemplating her decision to be happy or not. But at least she wasn't _dead._

~ Maka ~

Water crashed down above my head. Each individual water droplet intending to crack at my skull as it fell from the head of the shower.

I wrapped my arms tight around my fragile body, feeling the pinch of my nails grip at my arms as I struggled to fight the decision to be happy.

I pictured my saviour. The black haired, golden eyed boy that had harmed those who had harmed me, and pulled me to the safety of a bus journey home.

The water from above me forced the blood to detach itself from my pale skin, causing the water from beneath me to gradually turn red and float delicately towards the drowning drain.

I felt the water run beneath the soles of my feet, trickling beneath my skin and sending shivers up and back down my spine.

"Kid..." I said softly.

His name sounded soft against my mouth, like just his name were a shield that was able to protect me from everything and anything. And bring me such comfort, within the presence of my own home.

Everything stung, my fresh wounds, as well as my old ones. With every drip that sunk itself inside my cuts, pain was created inside every single one of my veins.

But thanks to _him, _I was okay.

~ Death the Kid ~

The walk home was peaceful. The moon as well as the presence of the stars shimmering down on my existence soothed me to feel something I had never experienced before, and for one of the first times in my life, I didn't feel angry.

My _A Day To Remember _t-shirt gripped at my body tightly as it was tugged by the wind. As if the world around me was trying to rip me apart within seconds. But still, I didn't feel angry.

The street lights above me flickered, shunning everything into darkness for only a second, before light was returned to my surroundings.

By now Soul had phoned four times, and every single one of them was left to be answered by voice mail. I knew exactly what it was that he wanted to say, and I wasn't ready to hear it.

Both him, as well as the entire school would have heard about Black*star, myself and Maka. Rumours about what happened would have broke loose and spread throughout the school corridors. And of course - Maka will be forced to take the majority of the blame.

Then as soon as the thought of her being pushed down even more because of what happened filled my mind, that's when I felt the flames of anger rage up inside me.

My phone hummed from my jeans pockets.

Without thinking, I grabbed it and placed it to my ear. "What?"

"So you finally answered then?" Soul questioned.

I bit my lip. "What do you want?"

"I want to know what the hell happened!" He exclaimed. "Cause' Liz's telling everyone that Maka lashed out on both you guys."

I gritted my teeth, feeling the threat of them breaking inside my mouth.

Soul sighed, "and I'm guessing that's _not _what happened."

"No..." I breathed deeply. "That didn't happen."

The wind was growing quiet, whispering all around me, clawing at my body. And with every ounce of silence, anger was reining over me.

"You gonna tell me what _did _happen?" His voice was full of concern and nothing more.

I remembered why I trusted him. "It was Black*star, he was beating her behind the History corridor."

He understood almost immediately. "So you lost it, grabbed her and ran?"

"Yeah..." I nodded even though he couldn't see me. "That's what happened."

~ Maka ~

I stepped out of the bathroom, eager to feel the cold air brush against my bare skin. My flesh was burning with the heat of the suffocating water, forcing my insides to turn in every existing direction.

My nails dug at the towel hanging from around my chest, covering every inch of my breaking body. Blonde cracks weaving across my damp cheeks, intending to shatter my appearance into meaningless dust.

Everything ached as I struggled to take my next step, leaning against door frames to prevent myself from falling. Breathing deeply like I was on the verge of non existence.

My legs wavered beneath me, my bones threatening to snap from the pressure of continuing in this suffocating world. All I wanted - was to fade.

But I couldn't stop myself from tumbling to the ground.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

~ Death the Kid ~

_Jason walker _played throughout the earphones that hung from my ears. He's voice devouring the sound of my skateboard pressing against the ground, and creating a presence of warmth inside my chest.

The Saturday morning was dull and cold. My hair was snatched by the winds grasp as I skated through the deserted streets of Death City, like the silence was what boosted this worlds monstrous confidence.

Bruises stained my knuckles, purple blemishes stinging at my bones with every fraction of movement. But no matter how much it hurt, every ounce of pain - was completely worth it.

I had walked her off the bus the day before. Walked with her to her house, whilst watching her like she could crumble at any moment, ready to pick up the pieces.

Neither of us spoke a single word. We walked in silence, and silence only. But with every step I took, I could feel the faint beating of her trembling heart.

I continued down the street, feeling the same monstrous wind try to grasp at my body. And the eagerness of it, tried to consume me.

"There he is."

I leaned all of my weight on my back foot, forcing the board to tip and brake against the concrete.

Liz glared towards me, hands held firmly on her hips. "You should have left her there to rot."

Patty snickered, her petty laughs lingering longer than they should have.

"Black*star's nose is broken because of her!"

"Her?" I questioned, placing the tip of my board beneath my palm. "Last time I checked, his nose was cracking beneath _my _fist."

She flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Well, it's still her fault."

"Tell me why exactly."

Her eyes widened, her ruby lips parted and her grip on her hips fell ever so slightly. It was easy to see she was out of ways to defend him.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Because she's a bitch."

I raised an eyebrow. "Compared to you?"

The girl beside her gasped, hesitating as she placed her brightly painted fingers to her lips, watching carefully between both Liz and myself.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't just say that." Her hands were shaking. "You know what will happen."

I snickered. "What, you think Black*star's gonna hurt me?"

Her mouth shut quickly, powerless with nothing left to say.

"Because, I beat the crap out of him - remember?" I placed my board back on the ground. "Or do I have to jog your memory?"

She gritted her teeth. "What's so bloody special about her, Kid?"

The soles of my DC's scraped against the surface of my board, my weight pressurising the wheels against the concrete.

"Nothing," I smiled.

She looked confused.

"That's what makes her special."

I kicked off the curb, and watched as everything zoomed by in slow motion.

~ Maka ~

The spines of CD cases felt precious beneath my fingertips. Cold, with a shiver of delight with every detail scratched on the CD inside.

Music surrounded me, in cases and bleeding from the speakers nailed in the walls around me. The sound of heaven brushing at my ears as _Biffy Clyro _filled the room around me.

Every few minutes, the song would be interrupted by the sound of the bell chiming, signalling that someone had entered or left the store. But every time I heard it, my knees trembled violently.

I quickly spotted _Green Day - American Idiot _on the opposite shelf. And before I could hesitate, I was already reaching out to grasp it in my possession.

But before I was able to brush the case's surface, another hand had already beaten me to it. And as they promptly removed it from the shelf, the space where it rested was left deserted.

My fingers quickly tucked themselves into my palms, shielding themselves from the rest of the world around me, cueing for me to make my exit and start my journey home.

The bell rang again and voices grew louder the second they stepped inside the store.

I tried my hardest to not acknowledge their existence, but as I recognised them from school, I found it extremely hard to find the courage to walk past them.

"Black*star's pretty bust up then?" One boy questioned.

"Yeah," I recognised the seconds voice. "Kid messed him up big time."

As I saw them walk in my direction, I quickly ducked behind the shelves, hesitating to grab my bag as I tried to sneak my way into the next aisle.

It was one of the boys from the day before. Not Black*star, but the one who was with him, Ox or something?

I peered at him between the CD cases, every detail of his appearance seeming to be scarier then than it did the day before.

"Do you reckon he could've killed him?" The first boy asked.

Ox picked up a CD. "He's a crazy freak, wouldn't surprise me if he did."

The steel shelves were cold against my fingertips as I gripped hold of them in order to remain my balance as my legs trembled, watching as they looked in my direction.

The bell rang again, footsteps swallowing the rest of their conversation and devouring the music around me as they echoed from the end of the aisle.

"That Maka bitch got what was coming to her." Ox continued, "she's a nobody."

_What._

For just a fraction of a second, everything felt slow. Like everything was gradually pulling itself away from me, and we were growing at different speeds.

"Isn't that her?" I heard one ask.

I stood there, slowly standing back up again as they wondered round from the other side of the aisle.

Everything felt numb, like a reflex to prepare myself for every ounce of pain that would spawn in the depths of my body. I just couldn't find the will to shield myself.

"Shit!" Ox exclaimed.

They stopped walking towards me, frozen a few feet, but yet a punched reach away.

But no matter how long I waited, that exact punch never dared to stain my body.

"Quick," Ox turned back down the aisle. "Before he sees us."

Within seconds, they were gone. They had left and left my body free of wounds and bruises. And as I stood there, painless, I felt something I hadn't felt properly for such a long time.

I felt some form of - relief.

CD cases clacked from behind me, the sound of cases being pulled off of shelves, and then placed back on. The beautiful sound of plastic clashing with metal.

There he stood. The black haired, golden eyed boy stood behind me, gazing over cases and placing them back on the shelf in front of him.

He wore a long black and blue chequered shirt, that overhung a normal white t-shirt, which quite clearly defied his abs, whether he was flexing or not.

On his back hung a low black backpack, holding his black and red skateboard as the wheels hooked over the straps. The metal scraping at the waistline of his black skinny jeans.

In his hand he held _Paramore - Riot! _And his beautiful golden eyes scanned the song titles printed on the back.

It wasn't until he caught my gaze that I realised I had been staring at him longer than I should have, and I wondered if it was too late to quickly leave the store without making any form of contact.

He smiled, "hey."

I averted my eyes and raised my eyebrows. Showing my acknowledgement of his existence without wasting a breath.

He continued, "you okay?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "You?"

"Yeah," he waved the case in front of my face. "Just picking up a CD."

If it wasn't for the overhead music and the occasional chime of the bell, we would have been consumed into awkwardness as well as silence. But as long as there was another sound, other than my thundering heartbeat - I was okay.

He stood there, watching me. The same way he watched me when in pain against the ground, blood gushing from my open wounds and staining the grass I ripped up in excruciation.

Standing this close caused my heart to race. As if it were excitement from standing this close to someone who had never doubted my existence.

That thought alone - made me feel like the most alive girl in the world.

His eyes were watching me, in a way that I thought no longer existed. He stared at me like for once in my life, I was actually needed. But I had to tell myself it wasn't real.

I looked away from him. "Uh, see ya."

"Wait!" He grabbed my wrist before I had time to turn away. "Don't go."

My wrist burned with the warmth of his palm pressed against my flesh. The presence of his skin against my own forcing the flutter of dust covered butterflies to burst inside me.

I gasped as I felt it control me, as I felt it enlighten every dark corner that had ever been created and would ever possibly exist.

He quickly pulled his hand back. "I'm sorry."

I missed his touch.

"It's fine," I placed my hands in my pocket. "It didn't hurt."

His eyes found mine again, the glimmer of his golden irises defying every existence of beauty. Everything he was and stood for in that moment, that was all that mattered now.

Then his eyebrows were suddenly drawn closer as he stared worryingly at my cheek. His lower lip dropping with concern.

"That bruise," he pointed towards my left cheek. "Did that happen yesterday?"

Slowly, I raised my hand to place the tips of my fingers against my cheek, feeling the fresh stinging pain as it throbbed at the presence of my hand.

I stammered, "I... I don't know."

~ Death the Kid ~

She looked broken. Broken but not shattered. Broken but not consumed. Broken but still beautiful. So, so beautiful.

"I probably fell," she smiled. "I'm clumsy."

With every second I remained staring at her, it was like she was struggling with every endless second that tried to break her. Tired of staying strong for as long as she could possibly remember.

The song above us changed. Coming in quiet at first but as soon the vocalist bloomed within the room, the girl in front of me smiled - wider than any and every ocean.

"_Daughtry_," I smiled. "_Waiting for superman_."

She nodded, "yeah."

She lifted up her head, letting the blonde strands of her hair slip from her face and fall behind her shoulders, displaying her appearance more than the first time I had met her.

Her smile enlightened everything about her, every last speck of detail that was either stained upon her or destined to be with her. The redness of her lips staining my memory like blood stains my veins. I needed that memory.

Words couldn't describe her. She was something, but at the same time - she wasn't anything. She was just too beautifully powerful for words to describe, just so, so beautiful.

"Emo!" Two kids jumped up behind her.

They grabbed her hood and forced it over her head.

"Hey!" I pulled her to me. "Leave her alone."

Black*star's younger brother snickered in front of us, his friend joining in with the mocking laughter.

He smirked, "what ya gonna do?"

"Did you really just ask that?" I raised an eyebrow. "I take it you haven't taken a good look at your brother then?"

The boy's jaw dropped. His friend quickly taking a step away from the both of us, almost knocking down a CD rack as he did so.

"That..." he stammered. "That was you?"

I glared towards him. "Now you wanna ask what I'll do?"

"Shit," his friend exclaimed. "Let's go."

"No," he protested.

Maka had pulled herself from my arms, gripping tightly at her bag as she stood nervous beside me.

"You're gonna regret what you did to my brother," he stepped towards me. "I swear to god."

I laughed. "Is that a threat? You're like, twelve."

His friend began to panic, "seriously, let's go."

"Shut up," he ordered.

Maka stepped back, trying to escape the situation, her eyes growing tired as if they struggled to keep themselves open, like she were on the verge of extinction.

My fists clenched themselves into fists at my sides. "I suggest you apologise to her, right now."

"No," she whispered. "It's okay."

I turned to face her. "What?"

"Yeah, listen to your freak of a friend," he snickered. "Surprisingly she has more sense than you do."

It was controlling me. "Listen you lit-"

The chime of the store bell echoed loudly throughout the room, overpowering the music that blared above us and the sound of my uncontrollable rage.

The girl behind me, was there no more.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

~ Maka ~

I slammed my bag against the carpet, watching as it toppled over and spilt utter emptiness across my room. The silence of the thud it created echoing all around me.

The house sat empty, leaving me stranded on the inside as I raced around my room, clutching and pulling at my hair, screaming and breaking on the inside as well as out.

My knees landed hard against the carpet, piercing pain striking at my legs as the thump proceeded to echo throughout my body. Bringing me such agonising pain as I leaned towards the floor.

I screamed as loud as I could, and for as long as I could. Holding my head tightly as if to block myself out and prepare me for my own extinction.

"I hate you!"

I yelled at myself, every word that almost subconsciously spilled from my lips was directed at myself. Portraying my own personal hate for everything I am and ever will be.

"Why..." I whispered. "Why can't I just be normal...?"

Tears dribbled down my cheek, and bled towards my chin. Streaming across my skin like a spreading fire, suffocating my entire agonising body.

"You're just a freak..."

My heart was racing, tripping even, stumbling in my chest with every breath I wished I wasn't taking.

I breathed deeply. "No one will ever love you..."

~ Death the Kid ~

The wheels of my skateboard skidded across the concrete. My earphones swung from around my neck as I kicked faster of the ground, feeling the rush of the wind try to push me back again.

Cars beeped as they drove past, skidding to avoid crashing with my body, cursing and yelling as they caught up with my speeding presence.

My heart raced in my chest. I was determined to find her and prevent her from doing anything completely reckless. But I was scared about where she was, whether or not I could find her, or even if someone else had found her before I did.

"Get out the road, jackass!" A man yelled from his car window, "you'll get yourself killed!"

I kicked faster, pushing myself away from his vehicle altogether, speeding through town as I did so. Almost tearing up the concrete as I anticipated Maka's safety.

The corner of the town came into view, watching as the tall buildings vanished into small houses, and the roads disappeared into paths.

I watched as the lamp post on the pavement came towards me, feeling myself already reaching out towards it as I grew closer.

I grasped it in my palm and used it to guide me round the corner of the road, feeling its slipping metal threaten to slip from my grip.

But I continued down the deserting road, feeling my heart beat faster as she was still no where in sight. No where to be seen.

My phone buzzed from inside my pocket, continuously humming against my leg as I continued my journey to Maka's safety.

Despite my fear of falling from my board, I quickly fished it from my pocket, watching as Soul's name flashed across the screen, over and over.

As soon as I answered, Soul's voice was eager for my reply. "Kid!"

"Soul," I repeated.

"I've just seen Liz," he explained. "What the hell, dude? You can't go threatening a chic like that!"

I kicked off the ground, "I don't have time for this, Soul."

"What," he sounded concerned. "Why?"

My throat felt tight. "I can't find her."

He was silent for a second. "Who?"

"Her," I stammered. "Maka."

He hissed from the end of the line. "For god's sake, Kid!"

I kicked off the ground again, feeling myself struggle to remain balanced against the board, as if the world around me desired to kidnap me from _her. _From what I feared might be the struggle for her survival.

"Enough with this shit!" He exclaimed, "you don't need her!"

I sighed, "maybe."

I watched as I made my way towards an alleyway.

"But I can't help but feel that _she_ needs me_._"

I jumped the curb. And watched as every brick blurred as I sped past it.

Soul breathed deep. "Try her house."

~ Maka ~

Water filled up quickly in the bathtub. Millions of water droplets hammering against the surface of the liquid I longed to bury myself beneath.

But I intended for it to flood every single one of my surroundings, and take me down with them. I wanted to be consumed by something that had never consumed me before.

I stumbled downstairs, drunk with pain and regret for never putting extinction to myself before. But I swore that was the time it would finally happen.

The kitchen floor was stone cold against my bare feet. Stinging with the icy pain of standing, and not yet giving up. But in that exact moment, I was slipping on the verge.

The draws in front of me blurred as I stepped closer to them, feeling the tears slip from my eyes more than I needed them to.

"_...freak of a friend."_

I sighed deeply as I gripped the draw handle in my hand, feeling the weight on my shoulders practically fall to my arms and force myself to pull open the draw to the shinning silver blades.

And the drunkard inside of me, forced me to grasp one in my possession.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

~ Death the Kid ~

My skateboard skidded as I braked against the pavement, kicking it up onto her driveway as I ran towards the entrance.

"Maka!" I exclaimed, knocking rapidly against the window.

From what I could see through the window, the room on the other side sat empty and deserted. Dark, quiet and showed no sign of a physical struggle.

I almost gave up hope on finding her, but before I turned to leave I saw the door swing slightly as the wind pushed against it. Pushing it open to reveal her hallway.

And I didn't hesitate to step inside.

~ Maka ~

The sound of the door closing echoed up the stairs, and overpowered the thrash of the water.

But I could no longer concentrate on anything around me in that moment. Because it was then that I was finally doing it.

I was creating my extinction.

~ Death the Kid ~

The house was scarily silent. Every corner was dark and morphed into despair, as if the presence of such depression had affected the entire building I stood apprehensively inside.

Slowly I moved deeper into the room, hearing the creaking floorboards cry beneath my feet with every step I almost struggled to take. But no matter how many times they threatened to break beneath my weight, I continued my search - for _her._

There wasn't much within the room I stood in. A tattered red sofa in which sat opposite a TV that came across as being the most well kept thing that sat around me. And a few books that laid dustily as well as lifelessly on a splintered shelf.

The scent of alcohol and cigarettes clouded throughout the darkening room. The grotesque stench causing me to gag as I quickly stepped towards the stairs, as if that were a place within this consuming house that could save me.

And as soon as I placed my foot upon the first step, a bright but yet dark stain was eager to catch my attention.

Blood stained the carpet that rest torn beneath my shoes, the redness of the liquid seeping between the fibres of the material as it desired to bind itself against the house forever.

Within seconds that stain had forced my heart to race, and force me running up the stairs.

"Maka!" I called. "Where are you?"

As the silence progressed, my heartbeat only quickened, to the very point where I was afraid it was going to explode out of my chest.

But as I threw myself up the last step to see more red liquid bound against the floor, my heart was already crawling into the depths of my throat.

My lips quivered. "Maka!"

The sound of rushing water was all I could hear. Water hitting hard against the ground, and spilling from the surface it could no longer rest against.

Without thinking, I darted towards the bathroom, watching already as the carpet beneath my feet grew darker as water seeped out from beneath the door.

"Maka!" I slammed my fists hard against the wood. "Open up!"

I couldn't hear her. I could only hear the sound of my trembling voice and the echo of the banging I created against the bathroom door. And with every second those bangs were left thundering around me - the water was growing deeper.

Placing my shoulder against the wooden door, I didn't hesitate to throw my weight against it, eager to break through.

"Maka!"

Again, the weight of my body collided with the door, feeling it crack beneath my shoulder as the force of the wood pushed me away once more.

Water continued to drown away the ground beneath me. Soaking up almost every inch of despair that rested within the building around me. And as the splash of the heavy liquid colliding with the ground proceeded to echo, so did my heart.

I gritted my teeth. "Answer me!"

Then as my hands angrily clenched themselves into fists at my chest, I threw my shoulder into the door one final time - and it was forced open.

I collapsed against the surface of the flowing water. Feeling every ounce of it desire to take away my body, and part me a great distance from the green eyed girl.

She lay there lifeless. Bleeding. Drowning. _Dying._

My breath was stripped from me. "No, Maka!"

My arms shook drastically as I pushed myself from the ground, feeling them tense up with anger as I dived to the side of the bath she were suffocating in.

The water around her was gradually turning red. The blood that streamed from the jagged wounds across her wrists was slowly dyeing both herself, as well as her surroundings.

I struggled to turn the taps off, feeling my hands desire to slip as they gripped onto the metal handles.

Within a terrifying instant, the water had stopped spilling from the tap, but it didn't disappear from her cold, weakened body.

"Maka!"

Water spilled against the floor as I quickly threw my arms around her to pull her out, watching her face grow paler by the second, as if it were caused by the amount of blood that was shed against the ground.

I grabbed the nearest towel to me, not hesitating to wrap it tightly around the both of her cut up wrists. But as I hoped it would prevent her wounds from bleeding any more, the whiteness of the towel just soaked up into nothing other than - _red._

"Please," I could hardly breathe. "Open your eyes!"

Her eyes remained closed as I held her face in my palms, holding her delicately like I trusted her to hold herself up. But, there was no existence of a single response within that moment I watched her.

My lower lip trembled drastically as I felt the presence of a tear stain itself upon my cheek. Feeling the cold trickle down my skin as I watched her, slowly fading - from this world.

Quickly, I gripped my phone, without hesitating to remove it from my pocket. And as fast as I possibly could, I unlocked it and punched in the emergency number.

"Hello, how can I help?"

"Ambulance..." I sniffed down the line. "Quickly, she's dying..."

Tapping of a keyboard echoed down the line. "What's your location?"

I stammered, "27... Fairwell Lane, Death City..."

"Okay," she said. "They're on their way."

"Please," I choked. "She can't die..."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

~ Death the Kid ~

Her blood stained the stretcher they had placed her on. Ounces of it streaming down the sheets and staining her pale washed away cheeks.

Everything was blurred as I stepped outside the darkened house, watching as the day came into contact with my presence and forced itself to become dizzy.

The vehicle in front of the house flashed vibrantly with several colours. Drawing me closer with struggling steps as I watched them place the stretcher in the back of it, watching her as she disappeared from my sight.

She had a mask placed over her face, one that ruined every aspect of her beauty. But the wounds stained upon her wrists were the reason as to why that mask was held there. They were the real cause of such ugliness.

"Sir!" They called out to me. "Sir!"

I could hardly hear them. The echo of water spilling against the floor, and the sound of the door crashing against the bathroom wall was filling itself inside my ears.

Their voices were growing closer. "Sir, can you hear me?"

Her blood swamped itself over my hands as well as my clothes. Trying to drown my existence away in sticky redness, that was once running through _her _veins.

It was all I could feel. The bloody liquid streaming between my fingers, and catching hold on the fibres of my clothes, staining me - forever.

"Kid!" A recognisable voice was calling out to me.

But it wasn't hers. I hoped to god it was hers, but as they got closer, they got louder.

Soul stood in front of me. Eyes, drenched in terror. "Kid!"

"She..." I hesitated. "I..."

"It's alright, Kid," a paramedic placed their hand on my shoulder. "You saved this girl's life."

Within seconds, the flashing lights were gone and so was Maka. The road in front of the house was empty, with the exception of Soul, myself and my skateboard that lay toppled over against the driveway.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

~ Death the Kid ~

Her blood dripped from my skin as I stood beneath the thundering shower. Feeling the sting as her blood part itself from my skin and stained itself against the shower floor.

My nails scratched at the tiles against the walls. Feeling them pinch back at my fingers as the force of the slab pressed against my bones. As if they wanted to break me just a fraction more than I wanted to break myself.

Soul sat on the outside of the bathroom, the sound of his head silently tapping against the door echoing throughout the space around me. Lingering longer than it should have.

He refused to leave my side from the moment Maka was placed in the back of that ambulance and taken away from me. I could hardly focus on anything around me as he walked me home.

Everything was numb. The bruises on my hands didn't hurt anymore, they couldn't possibly hurt anymore. I didn't think it was possible for physical pain to exist any longer.

For me - anyway.

Red water drained beneath my feet. Bringing back memories of watching her lie there, bleeding from her wrists, breathing without the air around her.

My fists hammered themselves against the wall. Shaking the tiles and forcing water droplets to slide towards their draining death.

"Kid?" Soul asked. "Is everything okay?"

I placed my palms against the tiles, arching my back as the pressure of the water forced me to place my head against the wall. Watching more blood trickle down the drain.

Water ran down my biceps and towards my back. Creating shivers that ran up and down my spine with every drip of water that dripped against my skin.

I breathed deeply. "I'm fine."

~o~0~o~

My bedroom carpet was held tightly in my two clenched fists. Sitting there, staring blankly through the window at the darkening sky, whilst repeatedly ripping up the carpet in my hands.

Soul sat on my bed opposite, staring at me as I remained silent and occasionally hit my head against the wall that was from then on - my only support.

I wore a new white t-shirt and a pair of grey jogging bottoms, still half expecting to see blood stains every time I tilted my head to look at them.

I smiled to myself. "She likes _Chris Daughtry_."

Soul still watched me carefully, like I had finally lost it, and was now digging myself into something that I couldn't escape from, even if I tried.

"Her face literally lit up when he came on."

"Kid," he started. "What are you doing?"

I felt the carpet rip beneath my fingers. "What do you mean?"

Slowly, he shook his head. "You're acting as if she meant something to you."

My heart began to race all by itself, portraying how my anger controlled me more than I controlled it.

"I'm just saying, don't get all worked up when you hardly knew the girl."

I gritted my teeth, "past tense."

He rose an eyebrow. "What?"

"Don't talk about her like she's past tense!"

I couldn't prevent my body from standing, but I did find the ability to stop myself from grabbing hold of the boy before me.

I slammed my fist at the wall behind me. "She's not dead!"

Paint crumbled beneath my knuckles, scratching at the scabbed over wound with every second it remained held there, rushing with the sheer pain of anger.

I breathed deeply, trying to catch my breath before it stole itself from me altogether. The uncontrollable rage burying itself deep within my veins, and laughing at my misery.

"Kid..." he sighed. "She's gonna be okay."

And just as I thought I had found it, my anger transformed into something different. An emotion that had never once before replaced such rage of mine.

My knees fell weak, and I landed against the ground. My arms shaking as they too struggled to keep myself together.

"If..." I stammered. "If I had just gotten there earlier..."

Tears formed within my glaring eyes, blurring my scowling vision altogether as I placed my head against the carpet.

"If I had gone straight to her house to find her..."

Soul placed his hand against my shoulder. "This isn't your fault, Kid."

My lower lip shook drastically as I tried to grasp it with my teeth.

"I could've stopped her, Soul."

"You could've," he sighed. "But fate let you save her instead."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

~ Death the Kid ~

It was a few days before rumours broke out around the school. But in all honesty, I couldn't find the will to listen to what it was that people were saying. I was hardly in that much anyway.

The days I did go in, I sat outside on the bench, watching that same place that she was beaten, remembering where it was that I had gave her more trouble than I did help.

_ Chris Daughtry _played from my earphones, repeating the same few songs over and over again, just simply because they reminded me of _her._

I wanted to visit her in the hospital, but I hadn't yet worked up the courage to even make my way over there. As well as I didn't think I'd be able to handle it if she didn't want to see me.

The thought of her lying there, possibly by herself scared me. I wanted anything but her to be by herself at a time like this, I would do anything - just to be with her.

I wanted to do something for her. I so badly wanted to do something that would put that amazing smile back on her face. And I think - I knew the right way to do it.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

~ Maka ~

As I opened my eyes I was greeted by nothing other than the darkness of the room around me, as well as the empty feeling of loneliness.

Machines beeped and whined from beside me. Their long, clawing arms reaching out towards me and implanting themselves inside my body.

Everything inside me burned with excruciation. From my throbbing mind to the veins that quivered inside my bloodless bandaged wrists.

Unfortunately, I was the only living thing inside this deserted room. White walls that held no such thing as creativity, flowers that sat non existent inside empty vases. I felt dull just by breathing.

I closed my eyes again, seeing nothing more than just the complete and utter dark once again. But whilst I lay there with my eyes closed, I decided that it was far better than when my eyes were open.

Slowly, I moved my hand up to my chest, where I felt a tube stuck to my skin, supposedly restoring my existence back to my body.

That's when I remembered it all. The insults, the blood, the water. It all came flooding back to my awakened memory, staining my almost empty insides with a whole lot more itching suffocation.

My hair was knotted and tangled as my head rest against it. Clumps of blood tying blonde strands together as if it wished to mark itself on - as well as within - my body.

Then one by one, I quickly began pulling them from my body, feeling their life saving desire part itself from my heat wrenching flesh.

The piercing sound of the machine from beside me echoed throughout the empty room. Beeping faster with every tube I parted from my broken body.

_I have to get out of here._

I threw my legs round to the side of the bed, feeling my bones waver as I placed my feet against the laminate flooring.

Everything was cold as I sat there. Like the world I sat so smothered within tried to push me back beneath the covers of _that _hospital bed. One that was already stained with the piercing red on _my _blood.

I pushed myself up, already feeling everything around me moving as the air hit me. Unable to prevent myself from collapsing within the second I was standing.

"Miss!" A nurse exclaimed, catching me beneath my arms.

I twisted and turned within her hold. "Let me go!"

"No," she protested. "You've lost a lot of blood, you need to rest."

"I'll rest when I'm away from this place!"

I pushed at her arms. Trying my utter hardest to get her to drop her grip some way or another. But no matter how hard I tried, I was too weak to fight away from her possessive hold.

A doctor and two other nurses were summoned within the room, all grabbing hold of my damaged body and trying to pull me back to the bed. But I swore to myself that I wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Stop fighting!" The doctor yelled, "we're only here to help!"

My elbow collided with his arm. "If I wanted help do you think I would've did what I did?"

The machines were still whirring against my struggle, like their beeps were enough to signal my exhaustion, like they would lead me to that bed once again, and I'd be forced to lay there - neglected.

"Maka!"

At the sound of my name being called, my heart stammered and I forced myself to finally stop struggling. Only to be faced by something far worse than any hospital bed.

In the doorway of the hospital room, stood a tall red bearded man. His messy white shirt and ripped jeans being the best things in which he owned.

His messy red hair, and tear bleached green eyes, all with the bitter scent of his alcohol stained lips, that screamed at me for the majority of my teenage years.

And then there were his hands. Those two clenched fists that lay drunk at his sides, the shape of his split knuckles, reflecting the shape of the majority of the wounds marked upon my body.

I held my head towards the floor. "I'll stop fighting, only on one condition..."

The doctor hesitated, "w-what is it?"

My father sighed deeply from the doorway.

"You keep him the hell away from me."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

~ Maka ~

As morning awoke in the outside world, I was already sitting there, pressing my wrists against my eyes. Both trying to shield myself from my surroundings but yet trying to reopen my wounds.

My room sat empty, with the occasional nurse checking in every few minutes to make sure that everything was okay. And every time I desired to ask whether she meant mentally or physically.

I saw my dad sitting on a chair outside my room. Hanging his head into his hands, gripping at his hair with every frustrated second that passed. The anticipation for a drink in his hand practically consuming him.

My boredom was driving me crazy as I sat in silence. Forcing me to grip at my head and prevent myself from screaming as loud as I possibly could. Although I wanted to, I really, really wanted to.

The sun beamed through the open blinds, casting shadows and lights to stream across my bed, like the both were trying to consume me into either heaven or hell.

As I placed my palm against the sheets, the same consumption took place on the back of my hand. Watching before me as my hand turned beneath the suns heating possession.

I smiled widely. Feeling my cheeks stretch and pull at the dust that sat against my cheekbones. But since the last time I felt myself smile, I didn't think it was possible anymore.

"Pretty," I mumbled.

Suddenly, there was a light knock on the door.

"Maka?"

The small ginger bobbed nurse stood apprehensive in the doorway. Her green eyes staring towards me with a huge amount of concern and sympathy.

Subconsciously, I wrapped my arms around myself, gripping hold of my shoulders as if to keep myself locked away from both her as well as any other in this hospital.

She attempted a smile. "Can I come in?"

My throat was swollen. "Yeah..."

She ensured to close the door behind her. Once against parting my dad from my fragile presence, and blocking site of him altogether, which caused a huge weight to be lifted from my shoulders.

The bed pressed down as she sat at the end of my feet. Pressuring lightly as her tiny body sat before me, taking up hardly any space whatsoever.

"You okay?" She placed her hand against my ankle. "I heard about you from the other end of the hospital."

I giggled awkwardly. "News travels fast..."

Her grip on my ankle softened, like she too could hardly handle the pressure of our surroundings. Like she had to be gentle, because nothing else was.

"I also heard about your dad," she sighed.

She turned to face the window overlooking the reception, pointing towards the drunkard leaning forward in his seat.

I hissed, "he's nothing."

Her hand lowered almost immediately, watching the anger flare in my eyes as I averted my gaze away from him. The sympathy in her eyes must have somewhat transformed in fear.

"I want him to leave," I snapped. "I don't need him here!"

Her voice tried to calm me, reaching her hands out towards me as if to grasp my anger with her bare hands.

"I can't make him leave..." She breathed deeply. "But is there anything else I can do?"

~ Death the Kid ~

As I walked down the hospital corridor, a small nurse with green eyes and a ginger bob quickly walked past me, carrying a tower of plain paper in her two freckled hands.

I gripped hold of the I-pod in my hands, holding it as firm as I could to ensure that I wouldn't lose it. After spending nights downloading the most perfect songs, it would ruin everything if it were lost.

My hands shook nervously with the terrifying thought of being rejected by her. The thought of her not wanting to see me, not wanting anything to do with my existence.

As I walked towards the reception, a red bearded man came into view. His elbows balanced against his ripped jeans and his head hanging loosely in his shaking palms.

His appearance caused my heart to race wildly, like something completely terrible had happened to him. Which then reminded me, of where I was.

The woman at the reception sat on the phone, talking quickly to a patient on the other end of the line. Writing their information down as they passed it to her telepathically.

She then had it in her possession, the patient couldn't possibly take it away from her knowledge. That woman could rule with it, do whatever she wanted with those pieces of unheard information. But as she placed the phone back down - she decided not to.

She smiled up at me. "How can I help you, sir?"

I hesitated to walk closer, feeling my heart stumble in my chest as I couldn't speak as well as move.

"Uh..." I hesitated. "Maka Albarn..."

The man beside me twitched to face me, holding his palm against his cheek.

"Is she... here?"

"Who the hell are you?" The man spoke.

My throat fell tight, so I was unable to mutter a single word to the broken man to my left. I felt so powerless.

The woman smiled once again. "Just in the room behind you."

"Thank you," I smiled back. "So much."

The man gripped hold of my wrist. "I don't think so."

I turned to face him, feeling my veins burn with the sheer seed of my anger. Trying my hardest to fight against it rather than obeying to it.

"I'm a friend," I snatched my wrist from him.

Before he could grab me again I began my walk towards her room. Only to be stopped as he quickly rose from his seat.

"Bullshit," he snickered. "She hasn't got friends."

"Sir!" The receptionist exclaimed. "I'll have to ask you to leave."

Slowly, I turned to face him, staring deep into his emerald green eyes, eagerly praying for some kind of non resemblance between both him, and Maka.

I gritted my teeth. "You're her dad?"

He held his arms out beside him. "The one and only."

It burned deep into the tip of my fists, raging with the pain of not being able to control it. But I couldn't find the will to care as I stormed towards him.

"You wasn't there!"

Two doctors were quick to grab hold of me.

He raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"Where the hell was you?" I tried to pull my arms from their grasps. "When she was bleeding out on the bathroom floor!"  
He shook his head slowly, running his fingers through his knotted her and trying to drown himself away in his breath.

"Answer me!"

"I was at the pub!" He yelled back. "I was at the bloody pub."

Their grip on my arms tightened as I tried my utter hardest to pull myself away. Feeling my body burning up with every second I couldn't unleash this pent up anger on the man before me.

She was in the room behind me. And all I had to do was walk through the door to see her.

But as I stood there, struggling. It was like everything was slipping out of reach just before me. Besides, she would probably hate me more if I hurt her dad.

"What does it matter to you anyway?" He hissed. "You're just a kid!"

"That kid..."

I turned around to face the ginger bobbed nurse, standing with her arms folded across her chest, stack of papers missing from her grasp.

Her eyebrows narrowed. "He saved your daughter, Mr Albarn."

The man before me hesitated. "W-what?"

I hung my head to the ground, feeling everything drain itself from my veins. My anger vanishing from my body altogether, preparing itself for the next time it would return.

The doctors dropped there hold on my arms, letting me use the strength in my legs once again, in order to hold myself up, and fend for myself once more.

Slowly, I turned to face the nurse, watching as she watched me with gleaming eyes of sympathy and concern, a look that I could tell she only used for certain people.

"Can you..." I stammered.

She stepped closer, keeping her arms laced around her chest as if she too were trying to hold herself together.

I handed the I-pod towards her, watching as the earphones fell from my palm and hung between my fingers. Rocking hastily against my skin.

"Make sure she gets this." I tried to smile.

"Don't worry," she smiled. "I will."

After she took it in her hand I turned away, not hesitating to bury my hands deep within my jeans pockets and walk the hospital corridor back to the exit.

My feet hung heavily behind me, waiting to collapse to the ground I struggled to walk against. Watching everything around me drift into slow motion as I lifted my head - but I didn't know why.

The door stung cold against my palm as I pushed it open, feeling the cold air grace itself against my skin as if it were trying its hardest to push me back inside to the blue eyed girl.

"Wait!"

Quickly I span around to face the ginger nurse run towards me, her freckled face lighting up as she stopped in front of me with a wide, glimmering smile.

"She told me to give you this..."

Quickly, she opened her hands and pushed them out towards me, waiting for me to grasp what it was she wanted me to have.

Then as I saw the little paper crane resting lifeless in her palms - my heart skipped a beat.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

~ Maka ~

Hundreds of paper cranes sat around the room. Some toppled over against the ground, some caught between the blinds from where I had thrown them. And others floating across the surface of my bed sheets.

I gripped tightly onto the silver I-pod I hadn't let go of since the day I received it. I didn't dare try to let it go since it was the only existing source of happiness that I had received in a very long time.

_Chris Daughtry _was one of the artists built into it, as well as _Green Day, He is We _and _The Maine. _And with every song that passed though the earphones, my love for music grew stronger than I ever thought it could.

I twiddled with the wire, twinning it carefully around my index finger as if I was extremely frail and music was the only thing that could save me.

But still I continued to to wrap it round my finger until the whole of my hand began to feel excruciatingly numb.

"You're love drunk, you're blinded," I mumbled along with the words passing through my ears. "You've lost the ones who loved you most."

By now my father had given up. He had gone back to his drinking paradise, and taken his ability of carelessness along with him. Like he was never here in the first place.

I felt my wounds healing beneath their bandages, stinging greatly as the skin slowly pulled itself back together. Leaving behind a white jagged scar.

"This liars, on fire," I closed my eyes. "Melted like wax, a mess it grows."

I was oblivious to the last time I had slept peacefully. But as I sat there gracing myself with the beautiful presence of music, it was like sleep was built for those who wished to escape. And in that moment - I never wanted to escape again.

He had come for me. The golden eyed, black haired boy had come to the hospital to find me. And not only that, he had saved me - again.

The I-pod I held so securely in my hands belonged to him, but he had brought it to me to make sure that - in a way - I wasn't alone.

I knew that's what it was.

And I wanted him to return for me.

~ Death the Kid ~

I sat in my tree without my I-pod. Delighted by the fact that it was sitting in the hands of her, rather than myself.

The trunk felt beautifully hard against my back, edges digging into my skin as if it were trying its absolute hardest to defy me. But no matter what, it couldn't harm me.

My legs hung from the edge of the branch I sat against, like they were trying to pull me to my death - cause it seemed that death was all I was thinking about lately.

The paper crane turned slowly between my fingers. Its paper wings flapping as they were caught by the winds forceful grasp. Wanting to flee beautifully, just like its creator.

It felt soft against my skin, like its purity was reaching out to be protected by my presence, and my presence only.

And then I realised.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

~ Maka ~

"I'm falling in love," I tapped my feet against the headboard of the bed. "But it's falling apart."

My eyes were closed as I stared longingly up to the ceiling. Watching as the world around me slowly disappeared as music was pulling me into the pit of its consumption.

And I was willing to go with it.

Slowly, my heart thumped inside my chest. Feeling the peacefulness of my surroundings all by itself. And for what felt like the first time in forever - I didn't feel afraid.

Warmth was everything around me. I felt comfort and protection just lying in the walls of this particular room, as if not even the air around me could bring harm to my body.

My feet tapped against each other. "I need to find my way, back to the start."

"Uh..." the door closed behind me. "I'm not interrupting am I?"

Quickly ripping the earphones from my ears, I span around to face the doorway. Feeling my heart squeeze greatly as the golden eyed boy came into my view.

He stood there in his black skinny jeans and another white t-shirt, standing apprehensively as he struggled to remove his hands from his back pockets.

I hesitated, "hey..."

He stepped deeper into the room. "You okay?"

Despite the sealed wounds against my wrists I stared up at him and nodded. Feeling everything inside me tingle with the numbing sensation of happiness.

"I'm great," I smiled. "And you?"

He nodded back towards me. "Yeah, I'm good."

Suddenly it was just the both of us. The world of the hospital had been shut off as soon as he had closed the door behind him. But as he stood there watching me - I couldn't possibly want anything else.

He stepped slowly around the paper cranes that were sprawled out across the floor. Walking round them slowly as if they were the most fragile things in the whole world.

"You sure like paper cranes don't you?" He smiled.

I nodded again, this time placing a loose strand of blonde hair behind my ear, feeling extremely embarrassed as I realised how messy my hair looked.

As he stepped beside the bed, I couldn't help but catch a whiff of his sent, and as I did - it was easily the most amazing thing I had ever smelt.

It was like vanilla mixed with men's aftershave. Sweet with a hint of delicate power, which made the butterflies in my stomach burst to life once again.

He sat in the chair beside me, leaning forward and holding his hands in his lap as he looked back up at me, on the bed where I sat ever so nervously.

"Paper cranes..." I stammered. "They're the only memory I have of my mother, before she passed away."

He squeezed his hands sorrowfully. "Oh... I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," I smiled. "That was a long time ago."

The I-pod sat on the bed in front of me, the earphones streaming away from it like an ocean and its rivers. Rivers that travelled the world in order to grace people with the oceans sound.

I took it in my hand and held it out towards him.

I tried not to look at him as I did so, "thank you."

He took the silver I-pod in his hands, brushing the button as he did so, watching as the screen came to life just before his eyes, revealing the title of the song that still hummed through the earphones.

"_The Maine_," he grinned brightly. "You like 'em?"

"Yeah, they're great..."

My thumbs twiddled as the song continued to whisper between the both of us. Defying the space with every word that escaped the singers lips.

Paper cranes danced as the wind seeped through the window, as if to force the papered beauties into making some kind of beautiful use with their paper wings.

"Keep it." He passed it back. "I want you to have it."

My heart stumbled. "I can't, its yours..."

"It probably means more to you than it ever will to me."

Butterflies were something that could no where near begin to describe the feeling in my stomach. It had risen so high that it was twining itself around my chest, and pressing at my heart.

Holding the I-pod in one hand, I quickly used the other to comb through my hair. Catching knots and not hesitating to rip them out as they stumbled into the gaps between my fingers.

"Thank you," I gripped it tightly. "That means - a lot."

~ Death the Kid ~

She looked so fragile. So beautifully delicate as she sat there, being devoured by the wires that wrapped themselves around her.

Her blonde hair filled with despair, tears and hours worth of loneliness. Her skin bleached by the dark nights that she was forced into neglect.

But right then, I was so determined to make that all disappear. I was sure that I could be the reason she would smile again, I was beyond sure.

Bandages bound themselves against her wrists. Specks of red seeping through the threads and attempting to stain her from the outside. Trying to destroy her more than it already had.

The red signalling the trouble she was to me. The trouble that Soul had tried so very hard to keep me from, but I had decided to ignore him, and chase her anyway.

"I'm..." I hesitated.

She looked back towards me, blonde strands of hair slipping from behind her ear and bouncing against her displayed collarbone.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling up at her. "I'm glad that you're okay."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

~ Maka ~

He came by everyday the following week. The sound of his footsteps spawning outside the door and proceeding to grow louder the moment he stepped into the room and sat beside me.

His golden eyes wide with excitement as he longed to share the new song he had found with me. Each of his fingers trembling with every time he leaned over to place my hair behind my ears.

He smiles, "it's called _The End of Me _by _A Day To Remember._"

Each day he takes that I-pod home, fills it up with more beautiful and heart racing songs that all simply take my breath away.

The way he watches me as I hold the earphones to my ears: his eyes, that smile. It makes me feel like I've felt alive for a time longer than forever. And within that time - I was never once introduced to the existence of depression. I was never once drowned within the urge to fight against opinions - for people like him.

He sits there, by the bed that holds me hostage, and makes me feel like the most freest person in the world. His large pale hands gripping tightly at the empty coffee cup that hangs between his legs, and he stares at me as if I am - _free_.

In those moments, I am surrounded. But by things that make me feel completely consumed by nothing other than happiness.

The music, his voice, that bird that sings outside. Everything within these moments.

They are the reason I'm alive.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

~ Death the Kid ~

"No!" She exclaimed, tilting her head in laughter. "_Stephen King _is so much better than _James Herbert_!"

I shook my head in disagreement. "You're wrong."

"I am not." She spoke sharply.

"Are too."

"Am not!"

My breath was stripped slowly from its consumption inside my lungs. Everything that once sat perfectly inside me - until the cue of my rage - longed to reach out to her. Like it wanted to feel the existence of her skin, without the shield of my fingertips.

I inhaled deeply, trying to catch it. "Well, they are both extremely different writers."

"Oh yeah," she raised an eyebrow. "Give me one valid reason."

"I can give you two..."

She suddenly looked more eager, and drawn towards my lips with every word that escaped them.

"Reason one being that _Stephen _wrote a lot more horror than _James_."

She smiled, lightly. But still the room around us lit like the world was on fire - despite the miserable weather.

I continued, "and two being that _James Herbert _is better."

Her tiny palm stung as it collided with my shoulder.

~o~0~o~

She lay there beautifully. Her feet pressed against the headboard of the bed, her knees tapping each other rapidly like gravity existed deep within her skin. That's possibly why I had to fight the urge to keep my hands off her.

A tiny paper crane sat softly on the back of her fingers. It's paper wings casting dark and delicate shadows across her face as she held it above her. Her eyes glistening like wildfire as she watched it flutter with every breath that brushed against it.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" She asked, catching it's wings between her fingers.

But in all honesty - I could think of something that outdid every ounce of it's existing beauty.

I smiled, "yeah."

"Do you know who isn't beautiful?"

She looked towards me, her smiling eyes glimmering as they locked themselves with my own.

I looked away as I felt the heat run to my cheeks. "Who?"

She giggled, "Liz."

My laughter couldn't be contained. I threw my hand against my lips to catch it in my palm, but it still remained to echo throughout the room I sat in.

She too giggled as if innocence were a thing that existed only inside her veins. Like the purpose of it's existence was to define her, and her only.

And the sound she created within that exact moment - I honestly wished it could've been something to experience for an entire lifetime.

Her eyes, that smile. They made me want to hold her for a lifetime.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Her smile was gone. Replaced by an expression that was neither happy or sad, but of something that settled nervously in between.

"Sure," I stammered. "Anything."

She looked away from me, to the paper cranes that flapped between the blinds. Demanding their release from the metal that attempted to crush them into nothing.

She breathed deeply. "How do you not get depressed in a world, that expects so much from a little."

Real birds chirped from the window outside. Humming their hearts out, and making the most out of whatever time they had left, in this consuming world.

"I..."

She watched me as I hesitated. Eager for the answer that had formed inside my head and tried to climb it's way from between my lips.

It was my turn to breathe deep. "I try to accept the fact that I'm nothing."

"What?" She frowned. "I don't understand."

My DC's tapped against the ground. Syncing in with the birds that longed for me to join them, in the world where nothing cared.

"I tell myself, that no matter how hard I try, no matter what I do, I'll never be able to change the way society sees me."

She breathed again. But this time, slower.

I continued, "how I'm just a boy with the anger issues, the one who can't control their temper."

She looked so, so beautiful.

"But, I can change the way I see myself..."

I wanted her.

"And I decided, to see myself as nothing."

I needed her.

I sighed deeply. "Everything's better that way."

Suddenly, before words could escape her lips the door was pushed open, scraping up the paper cranes that once rested lifelessly behind it.

"Hey," the ginger bobbed nurse smiled. "Visiting hours are over, but feel free to come back tomorrow."

My chest ached slightly, but still I nodded towards her, and pushed myself from the chair beside the bed.

The green eyed girl remained motionless, her eyes now wondering away from my existence all together, as if there was another world that called for her existence, one that offered her everything I couldn't.

I brushed her pale knuckles with my fingertips. "I'll be back tomorrow."

She remained silent, oblivious of my presence entirely. Looking out at that world that must of been everything she wanted, everything she needed.

"See ya..."

Starting for the door, I placed my hands in my back pockets. Smiling awkwardly towards the nurse as I began to step past her. That empty feeling in my chest throbbing at the disappearance of the green eyed girl as I walked away from the bed.

My wrist was grabbed.

"You..." Maka sniffed. "You're not nothing."

The emptiness was consumed by my racing heart.

Her grip loosened, "you will never be _nothing_."

After that - the journey home, was the loneliest thing, I have ever experienced.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

~ Maka ~

The rain hammered against the early morning windows. Water bleeding down the glass and blurring the outside world that sat cold and grey.

And all I could do was watch it as I waited for him - to return to me.

I was without the sound of music to grace my eardrums, and left with the sound of my still heart to sit empty in my chest.

My father hadn't set foot in this building since he left it. Which made it clear how he felt about me, and how he didn't care about me - at all.

Kid was the only one who went out of their way to see me. And part of me forced me to believe that he did it out of sympathy, whilst the other part knew it was because he cared.

What he had told me the night before... it made me feel warm. I just couldn't believe that there was someone else who felt the same way I did. I just couldn't believe it, I couldn't bring myself to believe it.

My toes curled round the edge of the mattress. Feeling everything beneath me press up for a few seconds, to reassure me that the world I was living in - was anything but numb.

The sky continued to cry. Its tears splashing against the glass, and threatening to ruin the paper cranes that rested in front of it.

The hospital was silent. Like everything that rested inside it was still asleep, but I knew that in just a few moments, that silence would be slaughtered.

It was just a few seconds after that the sound of footsteps echoed outside the door, and continued to echo back and fourth down the hall.

The blinds of the hallway window were sealed shut. Disconnecting me from everything and everyone that wished to pass my room in complete silence.

My heart raced in hope that it was him. His feet stumbling back and fourth as he struggled to remember what room it was I sat in.

I was pulled towards the window, by the urge of seeing him again. Every muscle and bone inside me aching with the thought of seeing him - again.

Everything was cold as I moved closer to the window, hearing the beep of machines and the hum of the wires as I placed my fingertips against the metal blinds.

The voice on the other side of the glass belonged to a girl. The high pitch surely to reflect her high cheekbones, and her intimidating laugh haunting my life completely.

The door was pushed open.

"Thank you for your help."

The brown haired girl quickly stepped into the room.

I threw myself backwards against the ground.

She leapt out towards me as fast as she could, gripping hold of my wrist as I hit my head against the wall.

I prepared myself to scream, call for help, yell as loud as I could.

She clasped her spare hand over my mouth. "If you make a single sound..."

Everything was numb.

"I swear to god, I'll kill you."

Her hand tightened round my jaw, her red nails clawing at my face with every second she remained, unanswered.

"Do you understand?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah..."

She kept her hold on me a moment longer, as if the moment she let me go I would scream at the top of my lungs.

But I knew better than to make that mistake.

She stepped away from me, her white boots squeaking as they backed away slowly. The sight of her overpowering presence towering before me.

My throat was tight, as if her hands had somehow managed to wrap themselves around my neck without moving a single muscle.

And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't breathe.

"What..." I stammered. "What do you want?"

She folded her arms across her chest. "Kid."

I could feel my heartbeat growing faster.

"What?"

"You heard."

My head hurt. "Liz, I..."

"He doesn't need someone like you." She snapped. "Everyone knows he only comes to see you out of sympathy."

Every nerve inside my trembling body stung with the urge to hit her. But as her words formed deeper in my memory, my muscles ached with the forming of depression.

I just longed to crawl beneath the ground, and hide away for the rest of eternity, the rest of my life.

I gritted my teeth. "You're wrong!"

Paint crumbled from the wall behind me as my nails scratched at it's surface. Relying on the tiresome muscles in my arm to carry me away from the ground, as if for once in my life everything around me was weaker than I was.

I wished that could've been right...

"I'm not wrong," she snickered. "I'm anything _but _wrong."

My heart wouldn't stop racing. It was hurting me, more than the threats, the beatings, the knives. This was a new kind of pain, and I had no idea how to describe it.

She stepped towards me. "Did you really think he liked you?"

Her pathetic face was blurred.

"Did you really think, he could stand to be around you?"

Adrenaline was pumping through my veins. Aching my arms and forcing me to step a fraction closer to the brown haired bitch that stood in front of me. Her red stained smirk remaining high beneath her snout.

She scoffed, "who would ever life you?"

No.

"Shut up."

No more.

Her extensions ripped within my grasp, and her ribs cracked beneath my own.

She yelped as she hit the ground.

But I didn't stop. "Just, for once in your stupid life, shut up!"

Her hair tangled in my fingers, I pulled her from the ground, slamming her back down towards it repeatedly. Half expecting to watch her eyeballs roll back into her head.

"You little..." she gasped.

She reached up to grab my throat, but before she could, I had hold of hers.

Watching her life fade from her painted lips as my grasp tightened by the second.

The door was thrown open. "Stop!"

The ginger bobbed nurse ran in towards the both of us, her eyes full of nothing but terror as she gripped me by the shoulders.

Two doctors ran in seconds after, immediately eager to grab me by my arms and pull me away.

"Maka!" They exclaimed, "stop!"

But as they proceeded to pull me away, I still urged to rip apart the bleeding girl before me.

The nurse struggled to resuscitate her, bruises forming around her neck already as I was continuously dragged from brown haired bitch.

And with one last pull from the doctor's arms, I slipped free from their grasp.

"No!" I screamed.

They stood still, watching me cautiously as I backed up against the window.

"She's..." I stammered. "She's the bad one!"

I felt the glass beneath my back, the blinds brushing against the top of my head as I tried to proceed closer. To the rain and the world I was kept from.

"Maka..." they said slowly. "We can help you."

My sweaty palms stuck against the glass, the warmth of my skin and the cold from the glass binding together like some kind of pair.

A pair that was destined to be together.

"I'm not crazy..."

They held their hands like they surrendered. "We know."

_You don't know._

They didn't know.

As I stepped towards them they stepped away.

I wanted that pair to reunite.

"No..." I sighed.

I _needed _that pair to reunite.

"You'll never know."

I stepped backwards.

The nurse gasped, "Maka!"

Then, as I threw myself against the glass, I thought I was dead.

Because as I flew through the air for what felt like a minute...

Nothing was real.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

~ Death the Kid ~

"I understand that you are aware of Black*star's condition," Mr. Stein began. "And I also understand that on the day of this incident, Maka Albarn was with you."

I gripped tightly at the arms of the leather chair I sat motionless on. "Yeah, so?"

His dark eyebrows narrowed as he glared directly towards me. His old and wrinkled face turning red with fury every second we remained together inside his office.

"Black*star's parents feel that both you, and Miss Albarn must suffer the consequences for your actions."

I bit my lip. "For _my _actions?"

His eyes widened, "excuse me?"

My veins throbbed with rage. Despite the fact that I knew if anything were to happen to the man that sat before me, Black*star's situation would be the least of my worries. But that didn't prevent my blood from boiling inside my shaking fists.

"And what about Black*star?" I questioned. "It takes two to start a fight, what about his consequence?"

It didn't take long for the sweat to dwell at his gel smothered hairline. "Well…"

"Oh wait," I interrupted, sitting forward in my chair. "He doesn't get one, does he?"

"Kid," Mr. Stein sighed. "Black*star's parents have funded a lot of money towards this school."

My nails sunk into the leather arms, piercing the fabric like the skin that had once been pierced against Black*star's body.

"We can't run the risk of upsetting his parents anymore than they already are."

I gritted my teeth, "you don't even know, do you?"

He looked confused, his dark eyes staring at me with an emotion that was no longer hatred, but something that settled apprehensive between that and concern.

"Maka albarn." I placed my palm against my forehead. "She's in hospital…"

The man before me nodded, slowly. "Yes, I am aware of her condition."

"How…?"

He adjusted his glasses upon his nose. His eyes looking around the room as if too both: avoid the conversation, and look for an exit as I placed my clenched fists on the desk.

I raised an eyebrow, "because of the rumours?"

Still, he remained silent.

"Because guess what…"

He finally looked back towards me. "What?"

I bit my lip. "They're true…"

He watched me like I watched her. His dark eyes full of concern as well as sympathy, looking towards me because all he could do was sit there and hope that I would be okay.

I always just hoped. And no matter how much, it never changed anything around me.

"I found her…" I continued, burying my head in my hands. "Bleeding out in her overflowing bathtub."

The tension around the both of us was rising quickly, with every second I remained picturing her - floating in inches of water, and her own blood.

I chuckled awkwardly. "And do you know what I keep thinking?"

He didn't answer me, but the expression on his face told me that he really didn't want to know.

But I told him anyway. "If I had gotten there, just ten minutes earlier…"

"Kid…" he sighed.

"I could've stopped her."

He removed his glasses from his head. "Kid."

I lifted my head, escaping the grasp of my destructive hands and forcing myself to come face to face with the man before me.

"You're excused."

My heart stammered, "what?"

He threw his glasses on the desk in front of him. "You're excused."

Lingering a second longer than I should have, I then quickly pushed myself up from the chair and raced to grasp the handle in my hand, and pull the door open to expose myself to freedom.

The corridor was empty on the other side of the door. The silence growing louder in my mind with every second I remained leaning against the now closed door to Mr. Stein's office.

I looked down the corridor towards the filled classrooms, the place I was suppose to return to. And then I turned to face the exit, which held the way I wanted to return to.

She was there, waiting for me. Sitting alone in that hospital bed, most probably watching the door as if I were to walk through it at any moment. Her excitement rising with every silhouette that walked past the window.

I gripped at my bare arms, as if the air that brushed against my skin was piercing with the cold. But despite everything I felt around me, she was all I could think about.

I turned my head to look back towards the classrooms, the window at the end of the corridor displaying the field were they beat her. The field where she was thrown down, and forced to believe that it was for her own good.

I gritted my teeth, "screw this."

Quickly, I jogged over to my locker and threw it open. The slam of the door hitting the lockers behind it and echoing against the walls around me.

I gripped on tightly to my skateboard that had rested motionless inside, and didn't hesitate to drop it on the ground in front of me.

"Kid?"

At the sound of my name, I apprehensively turned round, to see my blonde haired friend leaning against the doorway of the men's room.

Soul sighed deeply, "what are you doing?"

I pushed my locker to a close. "I'm going to see her."

"Kid…" he stepped towards me. "I-"

"I know," I snapped. "You think that I'm being stupid, and reckless, and that I should get too attached to her."

He stood there in silence and watched me the same way that Mr. Stein had watched me not even five minutes ago.

"But, I can't just let her be alone…" I sighed. "I can't just watch her grow weaker and not do anything about it."

He smiled, "I was gonna come with you."

My eyes widened as I looked up from my skateboard, my best friend standing in front of me and watching me as he believed for the first time ever, I was doing something right.

"Uh…" I stammered. "Okay."

~ Maka ~

My jogging bottoms were drenched at the ankles from both: the rain, and specs of blood that were shed from my escape wounds.

After smashing through one of the hospital's first floor windows, glass had scratched at the whole of my body. But already, I was used to wounds staining my body once a week.

The second I had hit the ground and felt the rain hammer against my skull, I threw myself away from the solitude that was the hospital, and didn't stop running until it was out of sight, as well as out of mind.

Liz was there, surrounded by nurses and doctors, who tried to help her breathe, and remain conscious.

"No," I bit my lip. "She doesn't deserve to be saved…"

I stammered like a drunk down the deserted down, walking past the bell chiming music store and the pub my dad was most probably inside.

His alcohol stained lips repeatedly touching at a refilled glass, as he drowned away his troubles and drunk away his money.

Mud squelched beneath my bare feet. As if the ground were attempting to consume me to the world beneath this one. And as my knees wavered with every step I took, I could tell that I was on the verge to giving in on the temptation of lying six feet under.

The wind gripped at my jumper, trying to rip it from my body and leave me vulnerable as well as isolated.

So I laced my arms around my body, as if to protect myself from every breath of air that dared to come in contact with my existence.

Cracks of my hair had bound themselves against my cheeks once again. My wet skin soaking the strands that now struggled to part from my icy flesh.

I shivered beneath the tear filled sky. Like it's dark and dull emotion was reflecting my own, and laughing at me with every second I was left wanting to once again attempt my extinction.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

~ Death the Kid ~

Soul grabbed his skateboard from his locker also. So together we raced out the school's main entrance, and skidded the corners towards the hospital.

The rain roared against the streets, water splashing at my skinny jeans and the wind tearing at my vest. But as I inched closer to the hospital, I couldn't find the slightest will to care.

Quickly we skidded round the corner and jumped out into the road, alarming cars as the wheels of our boards skidded the moment we leaned to abruptly dodge from being hit.

My heart was racing fast, hammering against my ribcage with every push I took off the ground beneath me.

Soul stayed close behind me, the wind grabbing at his _Neck Deep _jumper, as if the world around us were prepared to strip him down, like it were in the hands of Liz.

I pushed my weight down on the tail of my board, quickly braking against the drenched concrete.

"Soul," I said as he braked beside me. "Why did you decide to come?"

He grabbed the tip of his board in his hand, letting drips of rain stream down the wood and the stain the ground beneath the both of us.

He sighed, "Liz…"

"What!" I snapped.

His eyes averted themselves away from me almost immediately. Like the spark of my rage was that of Medusa's, and had the ability to freeze him forever.

I breathed deeply. "What about Liz?"

~ Maka ~

"One…" I struggled to breathe.

The bandages around my wrists ached deeply, specs of water seeping into the wounds that I had stained against my fragile body.

I gripped the strands at the back of my neck. "Two…"

The park I walked through was deserted, despite its isolated location, I knew there were extra reasons for its neglect. And as I walked through it, I was happy to relate.

"Three." I smiled.

I walked towards the slanted tree in the corner of the field. The only thing within the entire park to seize hold of my attention.

I stammered, "three…"

My veins throbbed with every step I continued to take, like they urged so badly to be released in the grasp of the air around me. Like they wanted to be free.

So without thinking, I scratched at the fabric wrapped around my arms, feeling the threads snap beneath my uncut nails within seconds.

The rain forced the bandages harder to the mud covered ground. Watching as the blood stained fabric blended with the mimicking dirt, and created a sight that was too deadly even for me - to fathom.

I couldn't feel the tears, but I knew I was crying.

I placed my hand against the slanted tree. "Three."

As the rain brushed my wrists, I felt everything inside me scream. Everything inside me explode as my wounds were touched by the piercing cold rain.

My knees hit the ground. "Three…"

I was cold and afraid. And I felt dead and alive.

I sniffed as tears ran across my chin. "Three…"

~ Death the Kid ~

"I don't believe this!" I exclaimed, seizing attention from those who passed by.

"Calm down." Soul sighed, "she said she wasn't going to do anything."

I couldn't stop pacing back and fourth. "I don't think it takes a genius to figure out that Liz is not the one I'm worried about!"

My arms froze with rage at my sides, occasionally they jerked as I struggled to keep my hands from clenching into fists.

The rain dripped from Soul's clamped jaw. I wasn't stupid, I knew every single word that was going through his head in that moment. Every word that was directed towards me, for supposedly caring too much - about her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I snapped. "I swear to-!"

Sirens blared throughout the deserted street. A police car racing past the both of us, as we remained fixated on its sudden appearance. Watching it even when it disappeared at the end of the road.

But still - she was all I could think about.

I grabbed my board.

"Kid!" Soul exclaimed.

But as he lunged out to grab me, my foot was already pushing off the ground, as I jumped onto my skateboard.

~ Maka ~

I hated the fact that this was my reality. I despised the fact that no matter how many times I closed my eyes and held them tight, I was still sitting up against a slanted tree, and praying that I wasn't.

Rain was all I could hear. It was all I could see. And it was all I could feel.

My veins stung like they never had before. Acid burning in my blood, boiling my insides as if god wanted me to suffer and burn within myself.

I thought of him. His golden eyes, his soft and scruffy black hair. I thought about everything that made him who he was, and everything that made him who he wasn't.

His hands brushing against my face with every strand of hair he lightly placed behind my ear.

The way he smelt as he sat in that chair beside me.

And the way he watched me. The first ever person to watch me, as if they cared.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

~ Death the Kid ~

Despite the sound of my skateboard roaring through the street, I could still hear Soul calling my name behind me, as he tried to get me to stop for the slightest moment.

But I continued to push my way to the hospital, only daring to stop as I saw it on the other side of the road.

Flashing lights eagerly drawing my attention as the police car that had passed us, rested motionless in front of the building.

I was reminded of her blood. And how it had once stained every single one of my surroundings. Even the walls of the ambulance she was placed in. How red was just - everywhere.

Doctors and nurses stood on the outside of the hospital, looking towards a smashed window in complete terror as well as shock. Glass staining the ground on the outside.

"What…" Soul breathed. "Liz!"

Whilst I stood there frozen, Soul ran on ahead. His arm wrapped tight around his skateboard, and his jumper tugging at his neck with every time the wind tried to pull him back.

I stood there trying to work out my way through the hospital, rethinking the directions I had taken everyday I went to visit her. But every time I did, I remembered how that smashed window was located in her room.

My heart was racing like wildfire inside my chest. But not once did it boil my veins.

"Maka!" I exclaimed as I ran through the entrance.

The ginger haired nurse from before turned abruptly to face me with concern. Her pale freckled hands shaking slightly as she watched me walk deeper down the corridor.

"Where is she?" I asked.

She didn't answer me. Instead she turned away to face the room that was opposite Maka's. Her eyes glistening as if tears had once formed there.

Before I could take another step, my blonde haired friend had stormed from the doorway.

"Soul, what's go-"

His fist cracked hard above my lip. Skin splitting and blood shedding as I stumbled to the ground, dropping my skateboard beside me.

He gritted his teeth. "This is all your fault!"

The ginger haired nurse quickly ran to my aid beside me as blood streamed down my chin. Drips of red staining my grey vest, with every second I remained on the floor.

"What the hell!" I yelled. "What are you talking about?"

His jaw clenched tightly, his eyes bursting wide with fury. Making me somewhat fear - _him._

He grabbed my arm. "Get up!"

"Wait!" The nurse shrieked from beside me. "Let go of him!"

The blonde haired boy forcefully pulled me from the ground, quick to tighten his grasp as he dragged me into the room he appeared from.

I struggled to grab the doorframe, staining it with blood as I eventually managed to grasp a hold on it, and remain balanced as I entered the room.

"Look at her," Soul ordered.

Bruises stained Liz's cheeks, blood marking her lipstick smudged lips as well as dying her brown hair. Cuts consuming her tanned body and hand marks forever bound to the skin around her throat.

One side of her hair was longer than the other from the disappearance of her hair extensions. Brown strands tied and torn to suggest how they had been ripped out, and plucked from her head.

Her hands showed struggle. Her pink chipped and broken nails stained with blood and signs of defeat.

And I couldn't help but smile.

She lay there completely breathless. For once she was silent. And it was beautiful. Like the world was free after it struggled to escape the grasp of _her._

Soul gripped my arm. "What the hell are you laughing at?"

My lungs were on fire with laughter. Happiness bursting through my veins with every second I remained standing with them in that room. My heart racing with nothing other than hysterics.

"Stop it!"

My arm collided hard with the wall as he shoved me, the edge of the wall clawing at the muscles inside my body. Like everything other than my best friend wanted to destroy my existence.

"Sorry…" I chuckled. "But do you honestly expect to sympathise?"

His fists clenched angrily at his sides, his knuckles pinching white as his nails pierced his palms. Like he was now the one with the anger problems.

I stepped towards him. "You want me to pretend?"

He turned away from me, his eyes fixating themselves on the brown haired girl's motionless body. As if he told himself to look at her once more, and she wouldn't look like that.

I knew because I tried that - all the time.

His face was inches from mine. "If you were really my mate, you would know how much of a dick you're being right now."

~ Maka ~

I held my knees tightly to my chest, clawing at my kneecaps with my blood stained nails as I sat there in silence. Waiting for time to pass faster than it already was.

"Kid…" I sighed. "Death the Kid."

His name tasted sweet against my lips, like the more I'd say it, the more that sweetness would have an effect on me. And attempt to turn me away from the virus I was to this world.

I was unable to tell whether or not the rain was stopping, or if it was pouring faster than before. All I knew was that the sky was crying, and I was trying to survive beneath it.

My wrists had stopped hurting, but occasionally I turned my arms over to check if the wounds were still stained there. And not once had my stupidity seeped itself from my body.

"Kid…" I shivered.

Goosebumps stung at my body, defying my existence with the evidence of my flesh stinging with the cold. But I still remained frozen to the tree I sat against, because I knew if I were to move the slightest, I wouldn't be able to cope with the weight of my own body.

I didn't know where to go. I was stranded within my directionless presence, with no sense of where to go next.

Home hadn't even dared to cross my mind, and I knew that if I were to take a single step back in the hospital, they'd accuse me of being insane, then god knows what would happen.

Everything was drifting. Drifting either away from me, or towards me at an unbelievably slow pace. And what hurt the most was that I couldn't see both of what was coming and going away.

I didn't want Kid to leave me, but I knew that if I got too close to him, I'd end up hurting him as well as myself.

And I couldn't do that to him…

~ Death the Kid ~

The nurse told me everything that happened, and how she practically threw herself through the window, and how she had to be pulled off of Liz's unconscious body.

But despite the fact how everyone thought she was crazy, I still continued to search for her. And there was no way that I was planning to stop. I didn't want to.

My lip throbbed as I rolled back through the town, repeatedly using the back of my hand to wipe away the fresh blood that was streaming down my chin.

I continued to push off of the ground until the tall buildings had vanished into parks and fields. The both being deserted as the rain continued to pour.

Time was drifting away from me, and the thought that she could be anyway was slowly proceeding to take control of my body.

But no.

I didn't dare to stop.


End file.
